


Biology

by helsinkibaby



Category: Fame (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Het, Pre-Relationship, post ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-24 00:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13799892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Tina questions Leroy about his relationship with Nicole.





	Biology

**Author's Note:**

> Post ep to "All I Want for Christmas" - which I looked at over Christmas and came out shipping Leroy and Nicole all over again! It's absolutely my head canon that Leroy was crazy about her (in fairness, everyone seemed to be) and you just know Tina would have had five million questions for him...

"Will Nicole be there?" 

Tina's question came after he and Tina had returned from the children's party at the hospital, after Leroy had just finished explaining the details of the carol service that was taking place at the School of the Arts that night, though he'd left out the fact that he had a feeling that after all the carols were sung - or perhaps even before - it was likely to turn in to quite the party. The question caught him by surprise, made him blink, even if he did know that his niece and Nicole had developed a strong bond over the last few days. "I don't know, baby," he said honestly, because Nicole hadn't said she would be there, but then again, she hadn't said she wouldn't either. "She might have plans with her family." 

Tina nodded slowly, her eyes narrowed, her face scrunched up in thought. "Sure would be nice if she was there," was all she said but Leroy was familiar enough with Tina and the way her way older than her years eight year old brain worked. There was something on her mind, something she wanted to ask him, and if she wasn't just coming right out and saying it, like she usually would, it was something big. 

Knowing that directly confronting her would probably get him exactly nowhere, instead he went for humour. "And there I thought you'd enjoy having me all to yourself for a while." He tickled her side as he said it and she laughed and squirmed away from him. He didn't mention anything about all the hours he'd been working, or why - they'd already ironed all that out. 

Tina shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "I just wouldn't mind if Nicole was there too, that's all," she said. "I like Nicole. She's nice." 

Again, Leroy got the vibe that there was something she wasn't saying. "All right..." 

He must have looked as confused as he felt because Tina actually huffed suddenly and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not a baby, Leroy," she told him sternly and Leroy didn't know it was possible to be scolded by a little girl half his size, even if she was reminding him strongly of his momma right now. "You can tell me, you know." 

"Tell you what?" Tina gave him another one of those exasperated looks and suddenly the penny dropped. "Wait, you think me and Nicole..." Tina lifted both eyebrows, stared him down, and he shook his head. "Tina, we ain't like that. We're friends." 

"Um-hmm." 

There were worlds of scepticism in those two syllables. Any other time, Leroy would be impressed. Figuring that arguing would be counterproductive, he instead went the logic route. "What makes you think that?" 

Again, Tina shrugged. "All the times she helped you out with me this week. All the 'studying' you two were doing." She made air quotes around the word. "I just figured she was helping you with a different kind of biology is all." It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what an eight year old would know about any kind of biology but he bit it back. "She's real pretty." 

"Yeah. She is." Leroy figured there was no problem admitting to that. The second Nicole Chapman had enrolled at the School of the Arts, there had been a long line of admirers beating a path to her door. Not one of them had stood a chance though, not once she and Jesse got together. They'd been as solid a couple as you'd ever find for almost two years until Nicole had called it off, and no-one had ever really got a proper reason as to why. Apart from Leroy, that is and he remembered an empty dance studio, fast music pumping, Nicole crying in his arms with a mixture of guilt for hurting Jesse and frustration that no-one seemed to care why she'd done what she'd done. 

"And she's nice. And smart." A tiny smiled peeked around the edge of Tina's lips. "I mean, face it, Leroy, you could do a whole lot worse." 

She was teasing him and it made them both laugh. Pulling her into a hug, Leroy let his cheek rest on top of her head and wished that things were as simple as Tina thought they were. Because he had thought of Nicole that way, once or twice, maybe a little more lately - he was only human after all. 

But none of that mattered. 

Because she was his friend. 

Because her ex was also his friend. 

Because even thought he'd been her friend first, he was currently a teaching assistant at her school and even if he did want to cross those other lines, that was one that he couldn't. 

"We're not together, Tina," he told her quietly, more than a little wistfully. "We're just real good friends, that's all. And that's better than the other stuff." 

Tina snorted into his shoulder. "Leroy, who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

Put that way, Leroy wasn't quite sure.


End file.
